TRACK MARKS
by Aggie Escott
Summary: The team are called to investigate a series of rapes and murders of men. Involves drugs. Aaron/Spencer centric. Possible AH/OC noncon
1. Getting started

**TRACK MARKS  
**Chapter 1  
Getting Started

"_**Evil requires the sanction of the **__**victim**__**.**__**" – Ayn Rand**_

The case started normally enough with photographs of beaten and killed victims passed around the round table.

Normal for the BAU that is. There was nothing normal in what this UnSub did to his victims.

'He takes trophies. Items of jewellery are missing from three of the four men. That's not to say that the fourth victim wasn't wearing any. All the men had been out late and were returning home alone. They were snatched from the roadside and killed and dumped a week later with rubbish.' Jordan showed the team pictures of the body dumps. It literally looked as if they had been dropped onto piles of bagged rubbish. 'No effort at concealment, no posing of the bodies. It looks as if they were just thrown from a vehicle. All were found in the mornings by workers from the shops behind which the bodies were dumped.'

'Any witnesses or trace evidence?' Morgan asked.

'Fibres on the bodies and under the fingernails is all the trace.' Jordan said. 'CSU think they may be able to identify the vehicle from the carpet fibres, but that is only if the victim picked up the trace from the vehicle. If they were killed elsewhere and the vehicle only used to transport the bodies, then that will be a no hoper.'

'Any sexual element?' Morgan asked.

'The third and fourth victims, Alan Carter and James Drury both appear to have been raped by a man. all were raped by a woman.'

'So there's escalation there. And now we have a fifth victim...' he consulted his file, 'Charles Elston.'

'COD?' Emily asked, looking through the papers she had in front of her.

'There are no weapon marks, all appear to have died from drug overdoses, although the drug has yet to be identified. There were marks on their wrists as if they had been restrained.'

'Were the victims users?' Hotch asked.

'The families say no. But the track marks were all new – less than a week old.'

'How far apart were the victims taken?' Reid said without looking up. Hotch watched him carefully. He seemed nervous.

'Each victim was taken on the same day that the previous victim was killed.'

'So what do we have?' Emily asked.

'Nothing other than what I've told you.' Jordan said. 'Except that the man Charles Elston went missing yesterday when victim number four was thrown out.'

'Then we need to get out there.' Hotch said. 'Wheels up in thirty.'

The team got up to leave, collect their go-bags and make their way to the jet. Hotch called Reid back.

'Are you going to be ok with this, Spencer?'

Reid looked at Hotch in surprise. 'Sure I'll be fine.' he said. Deep in his heart he was happy that his friend thought it necessary to ask.

-0-0-0-

It was an hour on the jet, and the team took the time to review what they had.

Four male victims, possibly five, between twenty five and forty five, all dead of a drug overdose. Escalation from kidnapping rape and murder to male rape in the last two known victims. Bodies dumped haphazardly with garbage probably from a vehicle. Trophies taken in at least three of the cases. Hotch flicked through the photo's. Although the oldest was over forty, he looked younger in the photograph. All had been married or in a relationship, but that was to be expected.

He put the pictures down. He was always concerned about jumping to conclusions before the facts. He decided to rest a little before they arrived. They needed to see crime scenes and talk to witnesses first. He turned the pictures face down on the table and closed his eyes.

Reid was devouring a paper with the uninspiring title of "Concerning the Drugs on the Streets and Their Relationship to Local Crime." Hotch smiled inwardly to himself. By the end of this flight there would be little that Reid did not know about street drugs and crime.

He felt uneasy though. It was rare for serial killers to target men. He had a feeling that this was not going to be a straight forward case. He wondered if the UnSubs could be a couple.

He was also a little concerned about Reid. He had been off the Dilaudad now for at least a year. He was going to have to watch his youngest team member closely. This case could bring back some memories rather best forgotten.

-0-0-0-

They were met by the Captain of the precinct where the men had been killed. Hotch introduced his team, and sent Reid and Todd to the precinct HQ to set up and start the geo-profile. He went with Morgan to the dump sites and snatch scenes and Dave took Emily to talk to the families and friends of the latest victim.

They were riding against the clock with this one. This man was probably still alive.

The bodies had been dumped in alleyways behind restaurants where there was a lot of garbage. It sent a shiver through Hotch to think these UnSubs (since it was likely that there were at least two to be able to overpower a man) thought so little of their victims. He stooped down amongst the bags and saw indifference, not hatred.

'These are random attacks, Hotch.' Morgan said. 'Each abducted with a purpose in mind, and once the purpose is accomplished, the victims mean nothing.'

Hotch stood up again.

'And there's a sexual element to be considered.' he said.

Morgan nodded thoughtfully. 'That could be that the opportunity arose rather than escalation.'

'We need to know whether they were killed in the vehicle they were dumped from, or if the time was spent elsewhere.' Hotch said as they made their way back to the car.

'I'll get onto CSU.' Morgan answered, getting out his phone.

-0-0-0-

Back at the precinct, Hotch was surprised and pleased with the room they had been given to work in. They were clearly welcome here, which was unusual to say the least. He called his team together and began collating facts.

Dave and Emily had visited Elston's family. They had been to a wedding that day, and Carol, the victim's wife, had been taken ill and had gone home early.

'When Charlie wasn't home the next day, I called the police.' she said. Emily had taken her hand.

'We are going to do everything we can to find your husband, Mrs Elston.' she had said, hoping that it would not be a body that they would be bringing home to her.

Aaron asked Reid if he had come up with anything.

'I think our UnSub or UnSubs are poachers. From the snatch pattern, it looks as if they come in from out of town, snatch their victims, and move on to another destination.' Reid said. 'The carpet fibres are from household carpet, so it seems as if our victims are being kept somewhere residential. The bodies are dumped back in this city at the same time, the next victim is snatched.'

'Pathology on the victims show they die shortly before being dumped, and they are kept alive for about a week.' Todd said.

'So we have five days to catch these poachers.' Aaron said. 'We will deliver a profile in the morning Jordan, arrange for a press conference at ten. I will field the questions. Maybe we can draw the UnSubs to us, make it easier for him, or her, to inject themselves into the investigation. Then everybody get some rest, meet back here at seven thirty and we'll get the profile together.'

The hotel they had booked into was only a block away, so they walked together along the deserted streets. Emily was discussing the case with Jordan and Dave. Hotch walked in silence listening to what was being said, ready to make mental notes of anything important that came out.

When they got to the hotel, they booked into their three twin rooms. Aaron was sharing with Dave.

'So what do you make of it, Dave?' Hotch asked, as Dave split a miniature of Bells into two glasses. He shot soda into his, Aaron took his neat.

'I think there's a woman here somewhere.' Dave said. 'A Folie á Deux.'

'Yes I was thinking that too – like the British Moors Murderers Brady and Hindley. Neither would probably become killers without the other's intervention.'

Hotch sipped his drink slowly as he thought.

'So we are looking for a couple, man and woman, the dominant one being the elder of the two.'

'Late twenties, early thirties most likely.' Dave said.

'Come from out of town, select and snatch their victim.....'

'And drive on to where ever they hold them, somewhere residential, but secluded so no one hears the screams of the victims.'

Dave sighed and finished his drink. 'It would be nice to visit a city one day and not have to track down a killer.'

Aaron agreed. 'Everywhere we go we leave tainted.' he said, taking another sip of the drink, and enjoying the burning as it slid down his throat.

Dave took his go-bag into the bathroom. Hotch took his pyjamas out of his and slowly finished his drink and Dave showered.

-0-0-0-

They local cops were eager to hear what the profilers had come up with. They listened as each team member delivered the information connected with their own area of expertise.

Hotch stepped forwards. 'This is the profile we have come up with so far.'

'We are looking at at least two UnSubs.' Dave said. 'Probably a man and a woman, the elder of the two being dominant. The dominant personality will be aged between twenty five and thirty five.'

Reid stepped forwards. 'They travel into your city in the vehicle in which they abduct the victims. It will likely be an old but well kept van. Nothing that will attract attention. They use this vehicle to convey the bodies to the dump sites.'

'They will be fit and healthy – abducting a man seems to be easy for them.' Morgan said. 'They take their chosen victim to a place out of town. Household carpet fibres were found on the victims bodies, and it is possible that they were kept in a house at some point, or wrapped in a carpet for transport.'

'The UnSubs do not use a weapon on the victims, but inject them with a drug. Keeping the victim subdued is not a problem for them.' Emily said. 'The last two were raped by a man. This could be a reward given by the more dominant partner to her protégé. This would indicate that the submissive partner is a man.'

Hotch stepped forwards again. 'Are there any questions?' he asked. One cop put her hand up.

'Could there be more than two..... erm..... UnSubs?'

'It is possible, but extremely rare outside of terrorist cells and gangs, and these cases don't point to that being so.' he answered. 'Anyone else?'

The room was silent.

'Ok thank you for your attention.' he turned away from the cops and addressed Jordan.

'Have you set up the press conference?'

She nodded, consulting her watch. 'Yes. Starts in thirty minutes.'

Hotch nodded, and gathered his notes off the table.

'After the press conference, I'd like Dave and Reid to visit the Carter family, and Emily and Morgan to go and chat with the Drurys. I'll take Todd to see the first two families,' he consulted the file, 'Wakeman and Harrisson.'

It was going to be a long day. Hotch led Jordan out to the front of the building where the press were already waiting for them.

-0-0-0-

Somewhere at the edge of the city in a little trailer, a man and a woman watched the press conference on TV.

'Hey they're good!' the man said, clearly impressed.

'Too damned good.' she answered. 'We might have to change cities.

'Oh but I like it here.' whined the man.

'Don't worry, my boy. I'll take care of you.' She smiled a sly smile at him. 'Would you like to play tonight?'


	2. More Victims

**TRACK MARKS  
**Chapter 2  
More Victims

"_**The quality of decision is like the well-timed swoop of a falcon which enables it to strike and destroy its **__**victim**__**.**__**" - Sun Tzu **_

The Wakemans and the Harrissons had the same story to tell. Their murdered men were fit and healthy and were not drug users. They were snatched late at night when they were walking home alone. They had both been having a drink with friends, Phil Harrison had been at a stag night, and decided to walk home rather than call a cab.

'It was only three blocks.' Naomi, his wife, said. 'I still can't believe he's gone.'

Hotch reached out and put his hand on hers. 'We are going to bring this killer in for you, I promise you that.'

They really hadn't got anything new from the day's work, and the team were feeling more than a little despondent.

'Everyone back to the hotel and sleep on it. We will look at the case with fresh eyes in the morning. Back here at seven thirty.' Hotch said to his team.

Like the day before, they walked together to the hotel. This time however, Hotch Reid and Rossi went to the bar first. They needed to relax and chat about the case, maybe get some fresh ideas. The bar was crowded with weekenders, so Dave sat at a table while Hotch and Reid went to get the drinks in. Dave couldn't see the bar from where he was sitting. After fifteen minutes, he became puzzled and left the table and walked round to the bar.

Reid and Hotch weren't there, although the drinks that they'd ordered were.

He caught the barman's attention.

'I'm looking for the two guys who ordered these drinks.' he said, indicating the three glasses on the bar.

'You just missed them. They left with a man and a woman not two minutes ago.' he answered.

Dave ran out of the bar. The crowd seemed to close in and it took Dave minutes to reach to door.

There was no one there; not that he expected there to be.

This was a change of MO. He called the team down.

-0-0-0-

Hotch had ordered the drinks, and handed over the money. He was standing close to Reid; it was crowded at the bar. He was aware of Reid's warmth and wondered if Reid could feel him this close. Reid he knew had a crush on him, and while he would never be able to reciprocate, he was flattered that the young agent thought that much of him. He felt something press into the small of his back, and he turned to Reid. Reid had both hands on the bar and was looking straight ahead.

Then he heard a voice hiss in his ear. A woman's voice.

'I have a filleting knife pressed into your spine. One false move and you are a paraplegic.' she said. 'Hands on the bar.'

Hotch slowly rested his hand on the bar. There was beer spilt and he put his hands in it. He felt it warm and sticky and wondered at the way the senses worked oblivious to the rest of the body.

An arm snaked around to his front and took his gun. He turned to look at Reid and the knife pressed into his skin, and he felt a trickle of blood.

'Now you know I mean it.' she said. 'Turn slowly and walk in front of me out of the bar to the main entrance. Keep your arms by your side.'

Hotch turned slowly and out of the corner of his eye he saw Reid do the same. The woman put her arm around Hotch's waist and rested her head on his shoulder like a lover, and held the knife in his back. Hotch walked forward towards the entrance. He was aware of Reid following behind.

Two victims this time? or were they hostages? They were right about it being a man and woman team, and the woman seemed to be the dominant partner. He almost smiled as he thought of how accurate the profile was...... But this was new.

He stepped outside into the cold evening air where there was a van stopped by the curb. The side door was open.

'Get in.' the woman said. Hotch tried to turn around, and the knife pushed deeper into his back. He stumbled up into the van, and the woman followed. Without moving the knife, and holding Hotch's gun to his head, she ordered him to cuff himself to the side of the van. Then Reid was pushed through the door and the man followed. Reid too was cuffed to the van with his own gun held to his head. The UnSubs alighted from the van and seconds later the engine fired and they were away.

-0-0-0-

'Missing? What do you mean?' Morgan said.

'I mean exactly that.' Dave said. 'They went to get drinks, and left the bar with a couple, the drinks still on the bar.'

'That's not their MO.' Emily said.

It was at that moment that a scream came from around the side of the building. The profilers ran down the alley way that divided the hotel from the building next door. A young kitchen worker was standing against the wall of the building with her hand over her face. When Dave touched her she screamed again.

'It's ok, Miss. I'm not going to hurt you.' he said. 'Now what happened?'

She pointed to the pile of garbage bags. On the top, looking as if he had just been dropped there, was Charles Elston.

-0-0-0-

'It's a big step from abducting a single man from a deserted street to kidnapping two Federal Agents from a crowded bar.' Morgan said. 'That's one hell of an escalation.'

'Hotch was targeted from the press release.'

'And Reid because.....?' Todd asked.

'They were together. And sometimes there are fewer witnesses in a crowd than in a deserted street.' Dave said. 'Get security footage from the hotel – in the bar, foyer and street. We might get lucky… Get the barman down here with a sketch artist. He saw them leave. He might help.'

Emily and Morgan left the Room where they had been working. Dave removed Elston's picture from 'missing' and moved it to 'victim' with the other four pictures. He put a photo of Hotch and Reid under 'missing'. He stared up at the faces.

'They were all targets of opportunity.' he said.

Jordan nodded her head. 'Yes. Until now.'

'They have changed their MO and now is when they make the mistakes.' he said. 'They are in unknown territory.' He looked across at Jordan. 'We need to tell Charles Elston's family. I've met his wife. I would like you to come with me. She will need a shoulder to cry on.'

Jordan nodded, and wondered how JJ did this job day in day out for years and not be affected.

-0-0-0-

Hotch fought and struggled as the pad was pressed to his face, but the chloroform knocked him out in seconds. As he passed out he could hear Reid shouting at them to stop and leave him alone, but Hotch knew they wouldn't.

Reid was kneeling in the corner of the van, his hands behind his back and cuffed to the bars that were welded to the side of the van. Hotch was kneeling half way along the van in the same position. The chloroform made him gag before he passed out. They released him from the cuffs and stripped him to his tee shirt and boxers, stretched his arms out cruciform, and cuffed him again to opposite sides of the van. His head hung forwards as he knelt unconscious and helpless.

'What are you going to do to him?' Reid asked.

'You should know.' the woman said. 'You saw the others.'

'But you only ever took one before. Why two this time?'

'We wanted this one, cocky bastard, thinks he knows all about us. Well now he's going to find out first hand. And you? Well you were there. And it will save us some time when this one,' she pulled Hotch's head up so that Reid could see his face. 'is dead.'

'Why didn't you wait to get him alone? You took a chance abducting us in a crowded bar.'

She ignored him, and picked up a roll of duct tape from a narrow shelf running around the edge of the van. She tore a few inches off and went to stick it on Reid's mouth. He tried to stop her but eventually by holding his head still by the hair, she managed to get it stuck across his mouth. He glared at her and pulled fruitlessly at the cuffs. She smiled at him.

The man spoke for the first time.

'When do we start on this one?' he said. 'Are you going to have him tonight?'

'No, not tonight. We'll let them settle in to their new home first.'

'Can I have the young one for myself, seeing as we have two this time?'

Reid looked from one to the other trying to piece together what they meant.

'We'll see, my boy.' the woman answered. 'Let's leave them and go watch the news. We might get a mention since we lifted two Feds in broad daylight from under their very noses.' she laughed and he joined in after a second or two.

-0-0-0-

Garcia had the security tapes fed to her computer, and she watched them carefully. Images of Hotch and Reid leaving the bar were clear on her screen, although the UnSubs obviously knew where the cameras were, because they never once looked at them. The woman was holding Hotch tightly, and to anyone watching they looked like lovers leaving the bar. She had one arm around him, and her face in his hair. Reid followed and a man walked behind him. They could have been mates out for a beer together.

'No wonder no one was suspicious.' Garcia said. 'It looks as if they went voluntarily.'

'The woman is holding something in her other hand against Hotch's back. You can just see something there.' Dave touched the screen. It was so small it could easily be missed, but they could see the knife in her hand. They couldn't see what the man was doing to Reid, but thought it was probably either a knife too, or it was do as you're told or the other one gets it. Their faces were never visible, but they could see blood on Hotch's back.

'What about outside the hotel, Baby Girl?'

'Loading now, Foxy Babe...... here it is.'

The screen of Rossi's lap top showed the street outside the hotel. A van parked at the kerb with the side door open.

They saw Hotch and Reid leave the bar with their 'escorts' and watched as Hotch was pushed into the van. The woman got in after him, followed by Reid and the man. About two minutes later the man and woman got out, closed the door and got in the front, the woman driving, and the van left the scene.

-0-0-0-

The barman was with the sketch artist, and had come up with a fair likeness of the woman, but claims not to have seen the man.

'I don't notice men.' he said firmly.

He was pleased with the picture that the artist had drawn, and a call was put through to Rossi to say that it was ready. Dave asked Garcia to do her best at getting an image from the footage, and if possible, a licence plate.

'That's what I do.' Garcia said with a hint of a smile, and the connection was broken.

-0-0-0-

There was nothing on the news, and the woman wasn't laughing any more.

'What about the Feds?' she yelled at the TV screen when the news had finished.

'Don't let them upset you, Mol.' he said to her. 'They are just trying to wind us up.'

'All they're doing', she said, 'is making me want to go and give them a kicking!'

'You know what it is, Baby. They don't want the world to know how easy it was to lift these two!' he said. 'We did a wonderful job, with another Fed sitting just feet away.'

'I had to cut him though. I didn't want to do that. None of the others were cut.'

'But the others were easy. This was different. I'm proud of you Mol.'

He went up behind her and put his arms across her shoulders and cupped her breasts. He kissed the side of her neck. 'You did good.'

She turned her head so that she was looking up at him.

'Shall we play before bed?' she said, smiling at him.

He smiled back and took her hands in his.

'Oh yes!'


	3. Breakaway

**TRACK MARKS  
**Chapter3  
Breakaway EDITED VERSION

"_**Why is there so much controversy about drug testing? I know plenty of guys who would be willing to test any drug they could come up with" – George Carlin**_

Hotch became aware again in the darkness and silence.

'Reid!' he whispered. He heard the shifting of chains as his reply.

He felt sick from the chloroform, but his mind was alert. He was pleased at the accuracy of the profile they had delivered, but he was unsure why they had taken two this time. It would have been easier to carry on as they were before.

He thought it was probably the press conference that made him the target. Well that was good. All the time they had him and Reid, the public was safe. He had to make sure that either one of them lived long enough for the team to track down the UnSubs.

He looked around as his eyes got used to the near darkness. There was a beam of moonlight through the window, Hotch saw that he was still in the back of the van. There was carpet on the floor, which at least helped to keep him warmer. His clothes were gone, and he thought that was to make it easier to inject whatever drug they were testing. He saw Reid in silhouette against the side of the van, and saw that he was gagged.

'Are you hurt, Reid?' he asked, and was relieved when Reid shook his head. 'Nor me.' he said.

Just then the door of the van slid open and Hotch saw the outline of the two UnSubs as they stepped up into the van. The woman addressed Hotch.

'You know why we brought you here. Unfortunately, you are no good to us because I had to cut you. The other one we can use.'

She turned to the man. 'Chloroform him and strip him. We can do them both at the same time.

The man ripped the duct tape off Reid's face and replaced it with the pad of chloroform. Like Hotch, Reid struggled briefly to escape, and then succumbed to the solvent. He slumped forwards and closed his eyes.

The man threw the pad to one side and unlocked the cuffs. Reid took his chance. He had been holding his breath, and now he swung a fist at the man who was taken totally by surprise. Reid jumped out of the van and ran into the darkness.

He crouched down in the undergrowth and prayed they wouldn't be able to find him. He felt dizzy from the chloroform, and he hoped he wouldn't pass out now. He was going to have to get help, or free Hotch himself.

He could hear the man and woman searching for him amongst the trees, and he held his breath again. He could hear them arguing.

'You didn't leave him long enough. Now he'll get help and we will have to move from here.'

'I couldn't leave it any longer, he might have died like that first one did.'

There were sounds of smashing undergrowth, and Reid laid down and wriggled under leaves and dirt. He had to stay free if he was going to help Hotch.

'You're an idiot! I have to do everything!' More sounds of searching. 'We'll never find him now. Get the bike. And move. We'll go to the clearing. I'll follow you. We have to move. Now!'

Reid crept out of his hiding place and followed her to the van. He climbed onto the rear bumper and hung onto the handle, and hoped he had the strength not to fall. He heard the front doors slam closed, and braced himself as the van started to move.

-0-0-0-

Hotch felt rather than saw the door of the van slide shut and the engine fire up. So Reid had escaped and they were moving.

That was good. Reid needed to get help – he had seen the UnSubs, and maybe there is something on them in the data bases. There might even be hope for him.

_Just run, Spencer, run away and update the team......._

As the van swerved around a corner on the rough track, Hotch fell to the side and wrenched his arm. The pain shot through him, and the cuffs cut into the skin of his wrists. He tried to keep upright on his knees but it was too difficult, especially as he still felt sick from the chloroform.

He just hoped that Reid was ok.

-0-0-0-

Reid was hanging onto the back of the van for dear life. As the vehicle bounced over the ground, his fingers threatened to let him down, and at one point, he was only hanging on with one hand. As the van took a corner, his body slammed against the back doors of the van, and he thought for a moment that he was going to fall. He clung back on and held himself close to the doors, and hoped that the driver didn't hear him. The van didn't rejoin the highway, but stayed on the rutted roads in the woods. The van was driving deeper, and the night seemed to get colder and darker.

He hoped that he was doing the right thing here. His only chance of getting Hotch out of there was to keep up with the van, but he could have been updating the team with information about the UnSubs. He was excited at how accurate the profile was, but the carpet fibres had likely come from the back of the van, and not a house.

It seemed that the victims spent their last days chained in the back of the van, and dumped straight from there.

He thought of Hotch just so close now. He clung on hard to the doors. Hotch's life could depend on him.

-0-0-0-

'Charles Elston didn't die of a drug overdose like the others.' the pathologist said. 'He had a heart condition, and he dies of shock. His heart just gave out.'

'So that is why he died before a week. It isn't an escalation.' said Rossi.

'No weapon marks again, nothing. Just marks on his wrist where he was restrained.'

'The woman cut Hotch, though. That is another deviation from their normal MO.' Emily said.

Dave rubbed at his chin thoughtfully. 'It could be important that the victims aren't cut or injured in any way. Which could make Hotch superfluous to their requirements.'

'But they have Reid too.' Morgan said. 'What ever they are doing, they could use Reid.'

'Let's get these drawings of the woman to Garcia and run them through face recognition. We might come up with a name. And Morgan, see if she has anything on the licence plate yet.'

Morgan nodded. He knew they had to hurry now. If Hotch was superfluous, they could just kill him.

-0-0-0-

The van pulled up in a quiet clearing deep in the woodlands surrounding the city. It was a natural clearing formed when lightening struck a tree and burnt the surrounding undergrowth. The lightening tree stood in the centre of the clearing, pointing blackened fingers towards the moon which cast its silver shadows across the clearing floor.

The woman alighted from the front of the van. The man parked the bike in the undergrowth and joined her.

'What was that? I don't like it out here.' the man said, keeping close to the side of the van, which offered him a small protection, although from what, he didn't know.

'Just some little animal, you moron!' She slapped him around the face and he stood and stared at her. She rarely hit him, and when she did, it was a sure sign that she was under extreme stress.

'It's ok, Mol.' he said gently. 'They'll never find us here.'

She sighed. 'Sorry I hit you.' she said. 'Let's go check on out captive.'

She slid open the door to the side of the van and entered. Hotch was awake, and he looked up at the two as they entered the prison. His wrists were hurting now, and blood had trickled along his bare arms and pooled on the carpet.

'So what do you want me for?' he asked.

'We are testing some chemicals to cut the drugs we sell. You are our next test subject. It's too bad your colleague escaped. But we will replace him easily enough.' the woman said.

She pulled a box out from under the seat, and opened it to reveal a portable cardiac monitor. She pulled up Hotch's tee shirt and attached electrodes to his chest. Then she took a syringe and a bottle of liquid, and Hotch watched in fearful fascination as she filled the syringe.

_Is this how you felt, Spencer, when Tobias injected you?_

She turned on the monitor, and it beeped steadily. The man held him and tied a tourniquet to his upper arm with a length of rubber tubing, and the woman stuck the needle in his arm.

He felt the coldness of the liquid enter his blood stream, and then his mind went crazy.........

-0-0-0-

Reid had jumped off the back of the van as soon as it stopped, and bent forwards, he ran to the cover of the undergrowth at the edges of the clearing. It was a relief to not be hanging onto the back of the van any more, but he had the fear inside that they hadn't completed their journey. If the van moved again, he wouldn't be quick enough to get back.

From his hiding place, he watched as the two opened up the back of the van. They disappeared in side, and he crept silently back. He could hear Hotch talking to them, and their reply. So it was the cutting chemicals they were testing, not the drugs themselves. He heard the beeping of the heart monitor, then the rattling of chains as Hotch resisted the injection. Then for a few seconds, everything was quiet. Then Reid heard a low moaning sound as the chemical got to work on Hotch. He so desperately wanted to go in there and help him, offer him comfort as his body succumbed to what ever it was they were poisoning him with.

But it was better that his presence remained, for now, secret. He would help Hotch later.

-0-0-0-

Hotch was engulfed in flames. His body felt pain to every cell, and he tried to cry for help but his voice wouldn't work. He thrashed about in his chains, tried to move his hands to his body, to protect himself from the agony of the fire.....

God it was hurting, too much to live through, and yet he didn't die, he just felt the greedy tongues lick flesh from his bones, and burn the blood as it fell from his peeling skin.....

Then he screamed. The sound that escaped him echoed through the clearing, and the silver moonlight became suddenly evil and foreboding.

Reid jumped at the first sound split the air. It was followed by cries and sounds of the chains being shaken. He desperately needed to help Hotch.

_Hold on, Aaron, and I'll be there for you._

The scream subsided into a long drawn out moan of pain. Reid's stomach clenched at the sound. What were they doing to him?

Reid became aware that the sun was rising. He wondered what the UnSubs were going to do – leave the van and go home, or stay and sleep in the front. He heard the door slide open, and he ducked down and crept under the van. He listened to snatches of conversation......

'.....no good. We can't use that to cut the drugs.'

'It could be .........'

'.... might kill him .....'

They opened the front of the van and climbed in. Reid lay very still waiting until he thought they were sleeping, and then he would get Hotch out of the back, and somehow, find their way back to civilisation.

-0-0-0-

'I have it!' shouted Garcia to nobody. She grabbed her phone and called Dave.

'I have a licence plate for you!' she said excitedly. She told Dave the number and the address where it was registered to. 'The woman who owns it is called Margaret Bond, and I have a photo here.'

Dave looked at the photo, and then at the artists impression that was pinned to the evidence board. They could easily be he same person. When the call had finished, he printed out the picture.

Their first big mistake, he thought. They strayed from their MO, the way that had worked for them, and mistakes happened. This was a biggy.

'Get this to the hotel bar and see if it's the woman who abducted our agents, Emily. Morgan and I will check out the address. It's in the next town, just as we predicted.'

Emily took the photo, and she and Jordan left quickly. Their first break in the case.

_We'll get you now, no mistake!_


	4. Tracks

**A/N I have had to edit chapter 3 because I forgot to put an important bit in! **

**TRACK MARKS  
**Chapter 4  
Tracks

"_**Our life is composed greatly from **__**dreams**__**, from the unconscious, and they must be brought into connection with action. They must be woven together.**__**" – Anais Nin**_

Todd and Prentiss ran out of the bar. Emily was already on the phone to Dave.

'It's her, Rossi, the one who abducted Hotch.'

'We're on our way to the address now. Meet us there.'

Dave was driving fast through the streets. He guessed that the woman Bond would not be there now, but any clues to her whereabouts could get them to Hotch and Reid sooner rather than later. He and Morgan stepped out of the SUV down the street from Bond's last known address. Together, in shooting stance, the two agents approached the house. They made their way to the front door.

'FBI! Open the door!' Dave hammered on it with his closed fist.

He nodded to Morgan who kicked the door, and the two men entered the house.

-0-0-0-

Reid didn't move for a long time. He could hear talking in the van. Until they either left or went to sleep, Reid didn't dare move. Hotch's screaming had subsided to a soft moaning and the occasional loud cry. Reid was desperate to get to him, but he would be no good if he got caught again, and he doubted if either of them would live long if he did.

So he waited. Although the sun was up, he could feel the cold dampness of the ground seeping into his bones, and he shifted slightly in his hiding place.

When the man and woman finally decided to move, Reid wasn't sure if he could, he was so cold. He tried to hold his breath as the two UnSubs got out of the van and briefly checked on their captive. Reid heard the door open and close again, and shortly after he heard the bike start and drive away.

He looked out for feet. He couldn't be sure if they'd both gone or not, but after about five minutes and no one had returned, he decided to risk it.

He rolled out from under the van, and stood shakily. He shivered and wrapped his arms around himself and went to the other side of the van and opened the door.

Hotch was still chained to the side of the van, and his head was hanging forwards. He was breathing heavily, but he didn't look injured. Reid crawled to him and lifted his head gently.

Hotch flinched, cringing back away from him.

'Aaron, it's ok, it's me, Spencer. I'm going to try to get you out of here.'

Hotch opened his eyes and recognised Reid. Spencer noticed that he was clammy and cold, and his hair was stuck to his forehead.

'I'm getting you out!'

Reid stood and tried to release the cuffs from the bars on the side of the van. The only way was to break the bars.

'I am going to find a lever or something to break these bars with, Aaron.' he said gently. 'Just hold on.'

Reid searched the van for something he could use as a crow bar, but there was nothing. He went back to Hotch.

'I don't know how I'm going to do this, Hotch.'

He held onto one of the bars and braced his feet against the side of the van and pulled, but nothing happened. The bar didn't even bend.

'You will have to leave me and get help.' Hotch said in a low pain filled voice. 'It's the only way.'

Reid looked at him for a second, undecided what to do. He didn't feel that he could just leave him there, but he couldn't do anything to help him on his own.

'I'll get help for you, Aaron. Just don't give up.'

'I won't.' he whispered. 'Go now.'

Reid went to the door. He looked back at Hotch, but he had his head down again, and Reid jumped from the van and closed the door.

-0-0-0-

Bond and her friend pulled up on the bike at the back of the house. Emily and Jordan saw them before Bond had got off the bike.

'FBI! Get off the bike and keep your hands where I can see them!'

The man had Reid's gun, and Bond had one of Hotch's, but they were no match for the agents. As the man raised his gun, Jordan took him out with a head shot. The woman dropped her gun and fell to her knees beside him.

'Oh no!' She was crying, and trying to grab hold of him as Emily cuffed her hands behind her back. Jordan called Morgan and Dave out of the house.

'They came home, Rossi. One's dead, but we have the woman!'

-0-0-0-

'You just killed my man. What do I care about your agent?' she sobbed. 'I will tell you nothing. I want a lawyer. I will tell you nothing. So what if he dies.'

Dave and Morgan were interrogating the woman.

'Agent and not agents?' Dave said. 'You abducted two. What happened to the other one?'

'I'm saying nothing. You killed my man. I'm saying nothing!'

'You've already told us that one has escaped. Who escaped, Margaret? Was it your man's fault? Did he let the agent escape?' Morgan said, leaning forwards on the screwed down table. Bond was crying.

'It wasn't his fault! The kid tricked him. It wasn't his fault!'

'So Reid escaped and it was your man's fault.'

'So where is Hotchner? Still in the van?' Dave asked, not expecting an answer, although she had given a lot away already. If they could just keep her talking.......

'Yes!' she spat. 'and you'll never find it. He will die in there and you'll not find him.'

'Reid will tell us.'

'Ha! That's where you're wrong, you see, we moved Hotchner after the kid escaped, so even if you find him, he won't be able to tell you.'

There was a knock on the interview room door. Rossi got up to see to it.

'There is mud on the bike wheels.' the cop said. 'The CSU's should be able to tell us roughly where the bike had just been.'

'Good.' Dave said, glancing back towards the door. 'because I don't think we are going to get much out of her.'

-0-0-0-

Reid stumbled through the woods in the direction that the bike had taken, but he soon left the track. If the UnSubs were to come back he would be seen if he stuck to the track. He kept thinking of Hotch left to the mercy of the UnSubs and he had to find someone to help him quickly. He didn't know how long they would keep him alive.

The sun was moving across the sky, giving him a rough idea of how long he had been walking. It was coming to late afternoon and he was feeling thirsty, and thought about Hotch with no water. He considered going back to help him, but it was vital that he get help for him. And the man and woman could come back at any time now, if they hadn't already...........

He pushed through the low branches and the thick bushes and brambles. The branches flicked back in his face and his hands became sore and cut. He found what looked as if it might once have been a trail, although it was now overgrown. He pressed on along the trail, and after about an hour, the trail opened up into a small clearing with a ranger's hut at the edge. He felt like crying with relief as he approached the door.

There was a rusted pick up at the side of the hut, and the door was overgrown with weeds. He pulled back the plants and tried the door. It hadn't been opened for a long time.

It was locked but with a little pushing he managed to get it open.

At first he thought the single room had been deserted for years, but when he went inside, he noticed that the dust had been cleaned from the table, and someone had been sleeping on the raised bed along one side, although there was no one there now. He wondered how whoever it was had got in, and then he noticed that the window was open.

He looked around for a phone, although he didn't expect to find one. There was no food in the hut, but there was a container of water from which he gratefully took a drink. There was a cloth by the dry sink, and he poured a little water on it and washed the cuts on his hands and face. He was exhausted after his trek through the woods, and his skin was hurting where he had been bitten by insects. He sat on the bed and tried to think of what to do now. He couldn't find his way back to Hotch now even if he tried, and if he walked much further, he thought he would pass out. He tried to stay awake, but as he sat there, his mind on Hotch, his eyes closed and he fell into a fitful nightmare laden sleep

_Hotch was in the van, but he was dead, and abandoned. Reid reached for him, and Hotch's dead eyes turned to face him accusingly..... 'you left me to die'...... 'I tried to help you, Aaron, I walked for days, but I couldn't find you'........ 'I died waiting for you'........Reid touched Hotch's face with frightened hands and flesh fell from his face leaving a mocking smile and Reid woke up with a cry....._

'NO!' he screamed, clutching at the air where Aaron was laughing at him. Reid was bathed in sweat, and tears stung his face. He wiped the tears and sweat from his eyes and stood on shaky legs. It was dark outside, and he wondered if he ought to try walking again. It was difficult enough in the daylight. He sat back down with his hands on his face and wondered what he was going to do. A sound outside grabbed his attention and he sat up straight as he heard the sound of someone opening the door.

-0-0-0-

The blood had dried on Hotch's arms. He had stopped struggling. He had seen how Reid had tried to break him out but couldn't, so he knew that no amount of pulling on the cuffs would help him.

The day got very hot. The sun beat down on the metal roof of the van and heated the air inside like an oven. Precious water seeped from his pores as he sweltered in the van with nothing to drink or relieve his thirst. He was surprised that the man and woman hadn't been back to inject him with something. Had they finished with him already? He couldn't believe that.

Although he didn't want them to return and poison him with something new, he didn't want to be left. He wondered how far Reid had got. He couldn't have found any help yet, otherwise he wouldn't still be here.

The light was fading now. The air in the van was cooling as the sun dipped, but relief was only for about an hour, when the cold set in and Hotch began to shiver in the darkness.

He was desperate for water. His tongue was swollen and stuck to the roof of his mouth, and he was dreadfully tired. He allowed his head to drop forwards and rested his chin on his chest. He closed his eyes in an attempt to sleep but he was too cold. The wind had started to blow and buffet against the van. Hotch lost his balance and fell to the side, the cuffs cutting his wrists again and drawing fresh blood.

The chains weren't long enough for him to sit on the floor, he could only kneel in the freezing cold of the night. He prayed that Reid would find help soon. He didn't think he could last long like this.

Aaron passed out in exhaustion around about midnight. In his dream he watched as he died and his body rotted and no one ever found him. He woke up with a soft cry and blinked in the darkness, and wondered if the dream was a premonition.


	5. Thirst

**A/N SR/OMC Noncon. Beware**

**TRACK MARKS  
**Chapter 5  
Thirst

"_**Somebody should tell us, right at the start of our lives, that we are dying. Then we might live life to the limit, every minute of every day. Do it! I say. Whatever you want to do, do it now! There are only so many tomorrows." - Pope Paul VI**_

Reid rolled off the bed and slid underneath it as two men opened the door. Reid watched the dust motes float in the moonlight as the two were silhouetted against the night sky. Reid held his breath as they came in and looked around.

'Someone's been here, used some water.'

'There's blood here on a cloth.' the other said. 'Whoever it was was hurt.'

Reid watched as one of the men threw a rabbit in the sink.

'Pity he's gone; we could have maybe had us some fun

'I'll get this sorted so we can eat. Whoever it was isn't here now.' The smell of fresh blood filled the hut as one of the men prepared the rabbit.

The other sat on the bed. It creaked and sagged and the air under the bed filled with dust. Reid pressed himself to the floor. He breathed in dust and tried not to sneeze. The two men didn't look very friendly, and he didn't want to be caught in their hut. He didn't think he would enjoy their version of fun.

He thought about Hotch. He had to get out of there to get help for him. He put his hand over his face and took shallow breaths.

'What was that noise?' the man at the sink said. He turned and looked at his brother. 'Hey there's someone under the bed! Our visitor is still here!''

Before Reid knew what was happening, he had reached under the bed and dragged him out. He held him by the front of the shirt.'

'We caught us a pretty one here!' he said, smiling a black gappy smile. Reid cringed away from his breath, which was as disgusting as it could get.

'I c-came in here f-for a rest. I got lost.' Reid stammered.

The big man swung Reid across the little room against the wall. He felt his nose crunch against the wood, and he tasted blood in his mouth.

'Now we have something to amuse ourselves.' He picked Reid up and threw him again. This time it was the back of his head that hit the wall, and he sank to the ground. He felt dazed and couldn't prevent the man from dragging him to his feet.

'Why are you here?'

'I g-got lost.' Reid stammered. He knew he had to get away, if Hotch was to survive.

'What were you doing this far into the forest?' he asked.

'I was walking...' Reid said. He daren't let them find Aaron. In the state he would be in now, they'd probably kill him.

'Liar!' the man yelled, and punched Reid in the face. 'You go walking in the forest dressed like that?'

Reid didn't say anything. He thought he was going to pass out. The man swung him by the arm against the wall again, and Reid lost consciousness.

-0-0-0-

Hotch was finding breathing difficult. If he allowed his weight to be taken by his arms, so that he could rest his body, the tension on his chest made it difficult to breathe. He fell asleep a few times, only to awaken almost straight away with chest pains.

He could see the world getting lighter through the small window. The temperature was rising slowly and he felt life return to his limbs. His wrists had bled a little during the night, and they were sore where the cuffs rubbed raw flesh.

His eyes wouldn't stay open, and he fell asleep once more, the jerking of the chains waking him up straight away.

'Reid, please, be quick. I won't last another night....' he whispered into the air. He fainted with exhaustion, and fresh blood ran along his arms.

-0-0-0-

The man threw water into Reid's face to wake him up.

'Open those eyes, pretty boy. Look lively, and we can have some fun.' he smirked. 'You might even like it!'

'I have to leave.' Reid said. 'I am a Federal Agent.'

The two looked at him wide eyed. Then they started to laugh.

'A Fed!' he screeched, hardly able to stay upright. 'Yeah! Right, sure you are! And I am the Queen of Sheba!'

The other man guffawed hysterically. He got off the bed and pulled Reid towards him.

'Ok Feddy Boy.' he said. 'Let's play a game.'

He pulled Reid's cardigan down his back, pinning his arms to his sides. Then the man kissed his mouth, hard and long. Reid felt his gorge rising, and as the man released him, he was sick on the floor.

'Hah! Guess he don't fancy me!' he laughed. 'Your go!'

He turned Reid around and gripped his arms. The second man kissed him, forcing a tongue between tightly closed lips. Reid tried to turn his head, but the man held his hair.

Reid coughed and gagged and threw up again.

'He don't fancy me either!'

'Pity really, since we're all he's got!'

Laughing, he picked Reid up by the elbows and dumped him on the bed. Reid cried out as his right shoulder dislocated. He felt tears of impotent rage well up in his eyes as the two men attacked him, pulling at his clothes and tearing them off him.

'We don't get no girlies out here!' one said. 'But pretty boys are the next best thing.'

'We don't get many of those either!' laughed the other, 'So when we get a visit, we make the most of it.'

Reid kicked and struggled against the two men, but he didn't have a chance. One of the men was holding down his shoulders, and the pain shot through him. He put his hand across his face and Reid bit him as hard as he could. He felt sick as the skin broke and his mouth filled with the man's blood. The man yelped and drew his hand away. In retaliation he punched Reid in the side of the head. Reid's head rocked to the side and he passed out again.

'Wake the SOB up. He's no fun unconscious!'

They dragged the unconscious man across the hut to the water. One poured some water into a bowl, and the other pushed Reid's face into it. He came round almost at once, coughing and struggling for breath.

'That will happen every time you pass out.' he said. 'So you'd better stay awake now!'

They pulled the moaning semi conscious man back to the bed and dropped him onto it.

'Ok Bro, Who's goin' first?'

-0-0-0-

'The lab boys say that the mud on the bike is from the north of the town. There's more sand in that area, and they reckon on it being eighty five percent certain that that is where it's from.'

Rossi handed Morgan and Emily copies of the analysis, with a marked map of the area.

'How the hell do we search all that area?' Morgan said.

'I'm going to have another go at Bond.' Dave said. 'I'll take Emily this time. Change of face might loosen her tongue.'

Morgan watched from the other side of the mirror, as Dave and Emily re entered the interrogation room. Bond had her head on the table, resting on folded arms. Emily pushed a cup of coffee in front of her.

'I am sorry I killed your man.' she said, trying to sound sincere. 'He was going to shoot me. I had no choice.'

Bond looked up at her with tear stained eyes.

'If you think that you saying that will make me tell you where Hotchner is, I'm afraid you're mistaken.'

Emily put the map on the table and slid it across to her.

'We know he is in this area.' Emily said. 'If you tell us where, it will look better for you in court. The murder of a Federal Agent will add years onto your sentence.'

'So I get thirty five years instead of thirty!' she hissed. 'Do you think I care? I hope the Fed dies.'

Emily slammed her hand on the table, making her jump. The Styrofoam coffee cup tipped over onto the table. Caffee ran across the plastic top and dripped into Bond's lap. She ignored it.

'We will find him. But if we find a body, if he dies, they will throw away the key. Life without parole. You will rot in jail.'

'And your man will still be dead, so it will be worth it!'

Emily wanted to put her hands around the woman's throat and throttle the life out of her. Dave put a restraining hand on her shoulder.

'That Fed has a little boy, Margaret.' he said. 'Don't let him lose his Dad. Tell us where Agent Hotchner is.'

'I'm hungry.' Bond said.

Emily clenched her fists and left the room. Dave followed her. Bond put her head down again.

'I can't believe her!' Emily said as soon as the door was closed. 'Hotch is dying out there, and she is letting it happen!'

Rossi put a hand on her arm.

'We'll start looking. We'll search in a grid pattern until we cover the ground.'

'That's assuming', Emily said, 'that he's in that area. And it could take weeks to find him like that. He'll be dead before we get to him!'

'I'll organise a ground search.' Dave said as if she hadn't spoken. 'You and Morgan get a helicopter.'

Emily pushed her hair behind her ears. 'It's all we've got isn't it?' she said.

Dave nodded. 'Bond won't give him up. All we can do is hope the CSI's are right.'

Emily went into the observation room where Morgan was watching Bond.

'We need to get a helicopter, Morgan. We will have to search for him.'

'Reid hasn't turned up yet. I think we'll be looking for him too.'

Emily sighed. 'Let's get going.'

-0-0-0-

The two men argued for a few minutes as to who was going first, and then they flipped a coin. The winner turned Reid onto his front and knelt astride him. Reid was too dazed to resist as the man raped him on the bed. He screamed and moaned, but didn't struggle as he was being held down by the other man. It was over quickly and the men changed places. Reid tried to turn over; anything to prevent this happening again, but he was still bordering on unconsciousness, and he had no fight in him. In his mind he saw Hotch as he has last seen him, dying of thirst in the back of the van, and he wondered how badly he was being treated by the kidnappers, and he saw his own failure to save him. The tears he cried were for Aaron, not for himself.

-0-0-0-

Aaron was unconscious, hanging from bloodied wrists in the oven like atmosphere in the enclosed van. His knees and shins were bleeding into the carpet, as were the tops of his feet. Instead of dark velvet eternity holding him, he felt fear and terror stalking him through nightmare corridors where hands pulled at him in all direction, and he could hear water but he could never find it.

He slowly came around as the air heated up, and he couldn't even scream or cry for help because his throat was swollen and he could only whisper hoarsely,

'Help me, Spencer, help me......'


	6. Another Night

**TRACK MARKS  
**Chapter 6  
Another Night

"_**Night brings our troubles to the light, rather than banishes them." - Seneca**_

Emily and Morgan sat in the back of the helicopter with binoculars scanning the area below them. They were looking for the van primarily. They didn't know that Hotch was still in it, but if he wasn't they couldn't have taken him far.

Unless they switched vehicles, that is.

The helicopter flew back and forth across the land, covering about fifty percent of the area. One quick scan, and then they would repeat the pattern in a tighter grid. And again. And again, until they found him.

Dave drove along the tracks through the dense woodland in the hope of coming across the van, But he didn't hold out much hope. But he just couldn't sit there in the Precinct HQ and do nothing.

-0-0-0-

Dave pulled up in a small clearing off to the side of the track. A vehicle had been here, the wheel marks were clear in the mud. He got out of the car and checked them closely. There were tracks of a large vehicle, and also a motor bike.

This was where they had been, before they moved Hotch. This was where Reid escaped. He found the deep footprints where Reid had jumped from the van, and he followed the tracks easily into the undergrowth where he lost them.

'Reid!' Dave yelled into the mid day sun. 'Reid, are you here?'

He began to circle round from the clearing, covering an area of increasing diameter. Reid would know not to go too far from point zero, and Dave was surprised not to come across him.

Had he walked to find help when the van and the bike drove off? He would have stayed to the path, but he had just driven the length of the path without finding him.

He called Morgan on his phone.

'I have found the primary scene where Reid escaped, but I can't find Reid.' Dave could hear the whump whump of the helicopter blades in the background. Morgan was shouting.

'Well I hope he's not lost out here. We'll never find him.'

'He didn't take the road, Derek.' he said. 'What would a genius have done?'

'If I knew that I'd be a genius.' Morgan said. 'Maybe he followed the van.'

'That's what I'm going to do now.' Dave shouted. 'It's the best we've got.

'At least we know we've got the right area.'

Dave closed his phone and walked back to his car.

_We're going to find you, Aaron. We won't give up until we do._

-0-0-0-

Sweat ran down Hotch's face and soaked into his tee shirt. He was not conscious, which was a blessing. The temperature in the van was over a hundred degrees, and he was loosing too much water. His shirt was damp with blood and was sticking to his chest. His head hung forwards and his eyes were closed to the heat.

Around his knees blood had soaked into the carpet, and was slowly congealing around him. He wasn't moving except for his erratic shallow breathing. If he had been awake, he would have known that he was dying.

-0-0-0-

The two men had finished with Reid for now. He crawled through his blood to the corner of the bed and curled up protectively. He didn't care any more what they were going to do to him. That wasn't important. He had to escape, but now he didn't think he would be able to walk, let alone run away. He was bleeding and hurting, and very thirsty and tired, although he dare not go to sleep.

His eyes were almost closed, pretending to sleep, but watching the two men. He watched them push a stick through the skinned rabbit, and build a small fire in the grate to cook it with. He hoped there would be enough smoke to be seen, but they wouldn't be looking for him here. He couldn't rely on being found, he would have to escape.

The two men sat on the floor and ate the meat from the bone. The smell made Spencer hungry and his mouth watered at the thought of eating some. But the men didn't offer him any. He watched the grease run down their chins and soil their clothes and he suddenly wasn't hungry any more. Then one of them stood up and wiped his hands on his trousers and came over to where Reid was lying.

'Let's play some more!'

He pulled Spencer off the bed and opened the door.

'You run, we chase you. You get no head start!' he laughed. 'Go!'

Spencer didn't hesitate, and ran to the bushes. The two men were following him, seconds behind him. Reid ran about a hundred yards in a straight line, then doubled back and hid in some trees, pressed right down into the dirt. His arm was agony, and he knew he ought to try to re locate the bone, but he didn't think he could do it and not cry out and give himself away. He held his shoulder still with his left hand and tried not to breathe so loudly.

He watched the men pass by him. They were both armed with shotguns, and meant business. He wriggled down further into the rotting leaves as they passed. When he though that they were far enough in front of him, he got to his feet, and doubled up, ran back past the hut and in the other direction.

The sun was up and hot, but it was dark under the trees and he didn't see the trap until it was too late.

It was only a small gin trap, set for rabbits and foxes, but it cut through the leather of his boots at his ankle, and the vicious teeth began to cut into his leg.

He screamed. The two men heard him, and immediately turned and made their way back. Reid dug around the spike that held the trap to the ground. The eighteen inch metal spike he pushed into the trap and attempted to open the jaws. Then he felt the cold of a gun barrel on the back of his neck.

'Gotcha!' the man said in triumph.

'Help me please.' Reid said, looking up at him.

The man picked Reid up, the trap still hanging on his leg.

'That oughta stop you from running away!' he snickered.

'Please, get it off my leg, before it cuts my foot off.'

The man was joined by his brother.

'I vote we leave it on. Let's get him back home. You're first this time, since you found him!'

Reid was held up by the two men and dragged back to the hut. The trap caught on low branches and pulled against the cut flesh of Reid's leg. By the time they were back at the hut, he had fainted.

One man shoved Reid's face under water but this time he did not wake up. They dropped him on the bed and wound the chain holding the spike to the trap around the post of the bed, and they pulled his clothes down and raped him while he was unconscious, The sudden pain revived him and he screamed and fought as best he could, but he was weakened by blood loss and pain, and when the second man took him, he fainted again.

-0-0-0-

Dave drove slowly through the forest. It looked as if the van hadn't stayed with the track, and Dave had to stop every few yards and check which way they had taken. The ground here was sand, and the tracks were less and less defined. Dave sent his location to Morgan.

'I'm going to lose the trail.' he said. 'If Garcia can extrapolate this direction, maybe you will see better from up there.

'I'll call her.'

'I'm going to keep looking from down here.'

He drove the car a short way and got out again to check the direction. It looked as if they went in a fairly straight line. He hoped Garcia would be able to help.

-0-0-0-

Blood from His foot had soaked into the bed, and the two men pulled his unconscious body off it before it was too bloody for them to sleep on. With his trapped foot hanging from the bed post, Reid didn't move when they dropped him. The men lay down on the bed together and slipped into a happy satisfied sleep.

Reid slowly opened his eyes. The sound of his captors snoring assured him that they were asleep. He carefully unwound the chain from the bed post and used the spike to try to prise the jaws of the trap open. He bit back a cry as the jaws slowly levered apart. Blood began to pour from the evil wounds.

He held the spike down with his one foot and gently lifted his injured foot out of the jaws. Then he slowly closed them again. As they snapped shut, one of the men stirred in his sleep, and Reid froze. He had no hope of out running them, but if he could get a good head start on them he might have a chance.

He looked around for something he could use as a crutch, but there was nothing in the hut. He hoped he might find a branch he could use when he got outside.

It was getting dark now, the third night.

His thoughts went to Hotch. Had they given him water? He hoped they had. He was dehydrated when he left him. Without water, he wouldn't last another day.

Reid dragged himself to the door and reached up to the handle. The door squeaked as he pushed it open, and again he froze. He had to get away. He would loose his foot if he didn't get help soon. Already the feeling had gone in his toes, and it was bleeding far too much.

He looked back across the floor at the blood smeared on the floor boards.

Way too much blood.

He felt light headed as he pulled himself through the door. He carefully closed it without letting it bang, and he rolled into the undergrowth.

He had to get away further. Using the low branches on the trees, he pulled himself up and favouring his good leg, he dragged himself along parallel to the overgrown track. He dared not go too far into the woods for fear of more gin traps.

The trail had to lead somewhere.

Clouds were scudding over the moon, and it was getting cold again. He was leaving a nice easy blood trail for the men to follow, so when it started to rain, he was glad.

-0-0-0-

Dave cursed as the first drops of rain fell, effectively wiping out the trail he was following. He called Morgan again.

'Garcia has just sent me a map with the likely route marked on, from the route we have so far.' he said. 'But we won't find it in the dark.'

'I shall keep looking from down here' Dave said, shining his flash light at the ground and into the surrounding trees. 'The rain is washing away the tracks, but I can still follow the broken branches.'

He got back into the car and drove a little further.

_Please, let me find Aaron, and please let him be alive....._

The car was getting difficult to drive through the mud. Dave abandoned it and continued on foot. The rain was heavy now, and every few minutes the night sky was lit up by lightening. He kept his flashlight on the trees, and followed the trail as best he could. The rain was blinding him, and he was soaked and shivering when the trail ended, and opened up into a clearing.

The lightening flashed and he saw the burnt out tree in the centre of the space. He shone his light around the clearing, and that was when he saw the van.


	7. Aaron

**TRACK MARKS  
**Chapter 7  
Aaron

_**"Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falls; for he has not another to help him up." **__** Ecclesiastes 4v9&10**_

Dave ran across the clearing to the van, simultaneously calling Morgan on his cell.

'I have the van, Derek, Just about to go in. Bring the helicopter down as close as you can!'

Dave slid open the door and the cold hit him like a knife. Hotch was not moving, and Dave stepped up into the van and went to him. Gently he lifted Aaron's head so that he was looking into his face. He didn't open his eyes.

'Aaron, it's Dave. I've come to get you out.'

He called Morgan again.

'Derek, we need bolt cutters and water.'

He took Aaron's weight in his arms and felt for a pulse. He didn't appear to be breathing, but it wasn't easy to tell. There was a pulse, although it was thready and weak.

Aaron, can you hear me? Open your eyes, if you can.'

Hotch could hear Dave as if he was calling from a long way off. He concentrated on opening his eyes. Very slowly, Dave saw his eyelids flutter and he looked into his friends eyes.

'You are safe now, Aaron. Just hold on a little longer and we can cut you down.

Dave cried inwardly at the state his friend was in. He was very cold, and Dave took off his jacket and wrapped it around Aaron's icy body. His skin felt dry and papery, and his cheeks were sunken with dehydration. He desperately wanted to get him out of the cold in the van and into his car.

He could hear the helicopter in the distance.

'Hear that? That's Morgan with water for you, and bolt cutters to get you out of here.

The sound of the rain on the roof of the van drowned out the sound of the rotor blades as the storm intensified. The lightening flashed again and lit up the inside of the van and Dave's heart broke. Hotch had blood on his arms and soaked into his clothes.

'Derek will be here soon, Aaron. Just hold on. You are going to be fine. We'll get you out of here.'

Hotch licked his dry lips. 'Reid.' he whispered softly

Dave was saved from answering as Morgan and Emily climbed into the van. Morgan stepped forwards with the bolt cutters, and as Dave held him, Morgan cut the chains attached to the cuffs. Hotch slumped forwards into Dave's arms, and he gently laid him down on the floor of the van. Emily stepped forwards without a word and handed Dave a bottle of water. Dave dripped a small amount onto Hotch's dry cracked lips and Hotch licked the precious moisture. Dave brushed Aaron's hair out of his face.

'You're safe now, Aaron.' he said. 'Now we can get you home.'

He ran some more water onto his lips and Hotch drank.

'Thank you.' he said, his voice thick and croaky. Then he looked at Dave. 'Spencer...... he found you?'

'We are still looking for him.' Dave said. Hotch tried to get up.

'We have to find him, Dave.'

'You are doing nothing. You need the hospital.'

'No. I need water.' he said, reaching for the bottle. 'Then I can help you.'

He started to drink, Dave took the bottle off him.

'Drink it slowly, Aaron.' Morgan said. 'Otherwise you will make yourself ill.'

Hotch nodded, understanding. Dave gave him the bottle, and Hotch sipped it slowly.

'Reid held onto the van when it drove here. He said he was going for help, Dave. He should have found you by now.'

Dave and Morgan helped Hotch to his feet. Hotch winced in pain as he took his weight on his feet for the first time in several days. The pain shot up through hid ankles into his abdomen. He groaned and bent forwards. Emily reached out to him.

'Sir, are you alright?'

Hotch slowly forced himself upright. 'I'm ok. Just a bit stiff from not moving.'

Carefully Morgan and Dave helped Hotch down from the van into the rain. It felt good to Hotch, to feel the wet on his skin, but he was cold. Dave and Morgan helped him to walk slowly to the helicopter. The pilot was waiting patiently for the return of his passengers.

'Emily,' said Dave. 'Would you accompany Hotch back to get checked over and warmed up. Morgan and I will continue our search for Reid on foot.'

-0-0-0-

Reid was feeling weak and light headed. He put this down to blood loss. The bleeding from his leg was showing no signs of stopping, and his whole foot was numb now. He sat down in the wet leaves and lifted his foot onto a low branch to keep it higher than his body. The only way it was going to stop bleeding was if he stopped using it.

He laid back into the wet and concentrated on things other than the pain he was feeling. He was afraid of the two men coming for him, but he was more afraid of them finding Hotch.

Lying down was agony. The damage done by the rapes left his abdomen aching and he was bleeding still. He closed his eyes. He couldn't travel any further, or he would bleed to death. He was exhausted, and he drifted into a shallow and nightmare filled sleep where the rapists found Hotch and the screams in his dream echoed through the forest.

-0-0-0-

When the two men awoke and found their play thing gone, they were angry. They grabbed their shotguns and left the hut in search of him. Although the rain had washed a lot of the blood away, these men were expert trackers, and his trail was easy to follow for them. One of them kept to the track, while the other walked through the undergrowth where Reid had walked. The broken stems and what was left of the blood as the rain washed the leaves left an easy enough track for him to follow.

When he saw Reid asleep on the ground, he called his brother over to see.

The two men laughed, and the sound woke Reid at once. He opened his eyes and stared in disbelief at them. The cold metal of the shotgun pressed into his forehead. Neither men spoke as they pulled Reid to his feet and dragged him back through the forest to their hut. Spencer's leg, which had stopped bleeding began to pour blood again as his foot caught on brambles and low branches. He cried out as his foot hit against the trunk of a tree, and tears sprang to his eyes.

'Hey the pretty boy is crying!' one of the men said. 'And we ain't done nothing to him yet.'

They were back at the hut now, and Reid had no chance of escaping again. He barely had the strength to hold his head up, let alone run away. As he was dragged into the hut again, he braced himself for whatever was to come.

'What are you going to do to me?' he asked, trying to sound defiant, and failing.

As if by way of an answer, they dropped him on the bed again. Reid yelped as he landed on his shoulder, and the pain for a second was worse than that of his leg. One of the men pulled him up by the hair.

'Now tell us what you are doing here. Why are you roaming the woods dressed like a school teacher?'

Reid didn't say anything. He would die rather than give up Aaron, the man he loved more than life itself. The man who was holding him shook Reid, and asked the question again. Still Reid was silent.

'Tell us now!' The big man smacked Reid across the mouth in anger. 'What are you doing wandering around here?'

Spencer felt his lip split and blood trickled down his chin.

Tell us now!'

Still Reid refused to give up Aaron. He resolutely closed his eyes and waited for the punishment. The man stood on Reid's injured foot, and He fainted.

The man dropped him down again, and turned him onto his front. He sat astride him and wrapped his arms around Reid's waist, and pulled down his clothes again. Reid woke up but he was too weak to struggle under the man's weight but he had tears in his eyes as the big man raped him again.

When both men had finished with him, they tied a rope around his neck and the other end to a beam across the ceiling. Reid stood in the middle of the room as his hands were tied behind his back. He had no chance of escape now, nor could he rest. If he fell he would hang himself.

He stood silently in the darkness listening to the snoring of his captors, and thought about Hotch.

_I am sorry I've let you down, Aaron. Please forgive me..............._

-0-0-0-

Dave assumed that Reid would take the path out of the clearing. The tracks from the bike were easy to follow as the rain had not yet washed them away, but there were no signs of Reid's footprints. He and Morgan followed the track for a mile.

'How far could he walk on his own?' Morgan asked. 'He would have been tired and hungry.'

'I can only assume that he passed out on the walk somewhere. He will be cold and wet now. We have to find him before he dies of exposure.' Dave said. 'But so far I've seen no signs that he passed this way.'

'I suggest we make our way back to the clearing, wait until it's light and start again. Maybe split up this time.'

Dave nodded in agreement. 'It's almost dawn now. An hours rest will make the search easier. We're no good to Reid if we get exhausted.'

The two men turned and retraced their steps back to the van in the clearing. They would have some where dry to rest before starting again.

-0-0-0-

Hotch was at the hospital arguing with a doctor. He refused to be admitted while his team member and close friend were missing.

'All I need is some water and my go-bag.' he said in a voice not to be crossed. 'I do not need hospitalisation.'

The doctor finally gave in. 'Then I expect to see you later on a stretcher.' he said crossly, passing Hotch a bottle of rehydration fluid to drink. Hotch took it without a word, and took a long drink. It tasted disgusting, but he knew better than not to drink it. He heard Emily behind him with his go-bag.

He glanced down at himself.

'I need a shower, please.'

The doctor pointed out the patient's bathroom, and Hotch nodded a brief thanks, took his bag from Emily and entered the bathroom, locking the door behind him.

The bathroom was Spartan and unadorned but the water was hot and gradually his sore muscles in his arms began to loosen, and the blood wash off. His shins and knees were sore from carpet burns and his ankles still hurt. He allowed the water to hit his face and he quickly washed his hair. He checked his wrists, but he thought that the wounds were probably superficial.

He dried himself hurriedly and dressed in clean comfortable clothes. The suit was crumpled from being in the bag but for once he didn't notice. He unlocked the door and went out to where Emily was waiting. He hoped that she didn't notice that he clung onto the wall for support.

'We need to get back out there, and join the search.' he said.

'Morgan just called.' Emily said. 'They are resting in the van waiting until dawn before they renew their search.'

'Good. We can join them there then.'

He and Emily hurried to the lift to take them to the roof of the hospital where the FBI helicopter was waiting for them. Hotch called Dave.

'We are on our way back to you, Dave. Emily and I will be joining your search.'

Dave didn't sound too sure. 'Are you well enough, Aaron?' The last time he had seen him, he was semi conscious. Hotch ignored the question.

'We'll be there within half an hour.' he said.

The last thing he wanted was to be a liability. But he had to lead from the front. Anything else was alien to him.

They watched out of the window as the forest passed beneath them.

_We're coming for you, Spence. We're on our way....._


	8. Following

**TRACK MARKS  
**Chapter 8  
Following

"_**A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it." – Oscar Wilde**_

Spencer was exhausted with trying to keep some measure of dignity. He stood in the middle of the hut, the rope around his neck. All his weight was on one leg, and it was cramping now. Carefully he rested the injured leg on the floor but just the movement sent waves of agony through him. That was not an option. He considered just falling and allowing the rope to kill him. It would end his pain and he was so afraid he would give Aaron up in a moment of weakness, and he would rather die than do that.

He closed his eyes and slumped forwards on the rope. That would not be able to hurt him if he was dead.

The choking sound woke one of his captors, who was on his feet in seconds. He pulled Reid up again by a handful of hair. Reid looked into the man's eyes.

'They will find you. If you kill me then you will go away for a very long time.'

The man hit him. Reid felt light headed from all the abuse he had suffered, and thought he would probably die anyway. He couldn't think straight, something that was very distressing to him.

'What are you doing out here? You will tell us or we will kill you. And as for going away for a long time, they will never find your body.'

He kicked Reid's smashed foot and this time Reid did scream. It cut through the stagnant air and woke up the other man. The two of them spoke quietly to each other, and came back to Reid.

'You are coming to bed with us' they informed him

They untied the rope from the beam and led him over to the bed. One of the men got on the bed and pulled Reid down next to him. The other lay down beside him. Reid lay rigid and tried to breathe through his mouth to avoid the stench of the men either side of him. He felt hands on his body as they groped and touched him, and he felt sick. They pushed him onto his side and the man behind him forced himself onto him again.

Spencer moaned softly as the abuse continued, although the pain was dreadful. His leg and shoulder were agony. But he lay quietly as the men took what they wanted and turned away from him.

As he lay awake between his abusers, he heard the sound of a helicopter above him.

-0-0-0-

The helicopter dropped off Hotch and Emily close to the clearing, and continued the air search with two cops who had joined the search. Hotch and Emily went to the van and opened the door. Dave and Morgan were sitting inside discussing how best to carry on the search. Their clothes were dry and they felt ready to begin the search again. The sun was coming up now and already it felt warmer.

'Reid must have travelled north, to follow the bike.' Dave said to Hotch. 'How do you want to do this?'

'We split up, I think, but keep in touch at all times. There will be a better chance of finding him with the four of us.' Hotch said. 'We can fan out from here. There shouldn't be any danger.'

The four agents stood in the clearing and faced north. They were going to have to be very thorough. It was a big forest.

-0-0-0-

'We need to get out there and check the traps.'

The two men were drinking some foul liquid that Reid could only identify as "alcohol". They were sitting at the table, chatting away as if Reid wasn't there. Then one of them went over to Reid and stood him on his feet.

'And don't think you are going to get away while we are gone.' and he threw the rope around Reid's wrists over the beam and the other end around his neck. They shoved some filthy rag into his mouth and tied it with more rope. The taste made him gag and it took all of his self control not to be sick. He couldn't lower his arms without tightening the rope on his neck. Reid's shoulder hurt badly. He stood on one leg and watched the men in silence as they loaded their shotguns and left the hut.

-0-0-0-

Hotch knew he should by rights be in a bed at the hospital. He used the trees to help him to keep going, and every few minutes he took a drink from the bottle the doctor had given him. His wrists were sore and his ankles ached but he had to find Reid. He would be dehydrated too. He kept on going through the forest. He listened to the chatter of the other three agents. He was too tired to join in, but it was good to hear them. They were not in sight any more, and hearing them made up for that.

As the sun rose in the sky he thought about Reid, and if he was still alive. It was the first time he had had the opportunity to really think about him, and where he could be. He would probably be in need of a drink of water by now, and if he had passed out in the open, he would be suffering from exposure too.

Every time Reid was in danger, Hotch felt pangs of conscience. He knew Reid was in love with him, in a way that Hotch could never reciprocate. But at times such as this he always felt guilty. Reid understood, and was coming to terms with the situation, but Hotch, being the team leader, didn't think he ever would be able to.

He felt very sick, and stopped and sat down on a low branch for a rest. He leaned his head forward and rested it on his knees in an attempt to get rid of the nausea he was was still no word from the others that they had seen any clue of Reid's whereabouts. Hotch pushed his fingers through his short black hair and hoped that one of them would find him soon.

With a worried sigh, he stood up and walked on. There was an overgrown track that looked as if once it could have been the ranger's route through the forest. He thought that if Reid had come across it, he would have likely followed it. Hotch did the same.

For the first time he felt as if there was hope of finding him. He pushed through the undergrowth, checking all around him all the time.

'Reid!'

He didn't expect an answer, but he called his name several times as he followed the track. When the path opened up to a little ranger's hut, he called the others to let them know he was going to check inside.

-0-0-0-

Reid had heard his name being called. He recognised Hotch's voice, and realised with relief that he was safe, and had escaped from the van. He would have called back to him, but the men had gagged him. He watched the door open and tears sprang to his eyes as he recognised Aaron's silhouette in the doorway.

Hotch ran across the floor to him and began by trying to remove the rope around his neck. He took out his phone and called the others.

'I've found him.' he said as he struggled to undo the rope. 'I need some help. I'm in the ranger's hut.'

Reid's eyes went wide as he saw another now familiar figure in the doorway. The man brought down the butt of his shotgun on the back of Hotch's neck and he fell without making a sound. Reid struggled against the ropes, his eyes wide with horror.

The man called his brother to come back.

'Who the hell is this?' he said, turning Hotch over with his foot.

'I don't know, but he has called on some others to get over here. They could be here any minute.'

'We have to get these out of here. If they find us, we've had it.'

'The next ranger hut is a mile south. We should be able to get them there.'

He picked up Hotch over his shoulder and the other men untied Reid's neck.

'Don't struggle or we'll kill you. Just walk in front of us. Remember we have a loaded shotgun in your back.'

Reid nodded, and stepped out of the hut into the midday sun. Each step was agony for him. The deep cuts had stopped bleeding for now, but his shoulder was getting worse, and he felt sick with abdominal pains. The man carrying Hotch was in front of him, and Reid could see he was bleeding from a head wound. He stumbled and fell as he tried to walk.

'Get up pretty boy!' the man behind him growled. Reid tried to get up but fell down again. There was no way he was going to let these men take them away from the hut now that Hotch had called the others.

But the man had other ideas and pulled the rope.

'You get up now or be dragged a mile through the forest.' he said He walked in front of Reid and pulled on the rope and dragged him across the clearing. Reid managed to get up on his feet, and he limped in agony following the men and Hotch.

-0-0-0-

'Well, this is the hut, but Hotch isn't here, and neither is Reid.'

Dave was looking at some dark stains on the floor. 'This looks like blood.' he said. Emily and Morgan knelt by his side. Emily shone her flash light onto the stain and touched it with her finger. She didn't need to say anything.

'One of them was hurt.' Morgan said, looking at the blood on the bed.

'Or both of them. Hotch wouldn't have left without waiting for us.' Dave said. 'He certainly wouldn't leave of his own free will.'

'They can't have gone far.' Emily said. 'It's only been fifteen minutes since Hotch called us.'

'Let's find them.' Dave said. 'If someone's hurt, that should slow them down. We can catch them up.'

Emily shone her flashlight around the ground in the clearing. 'There's more blood here.'

'This won't be a hard trail to follow.' Morgan said, pointing to blood on leaves at the edge of the clearing. 'This way!'

-0-0-0-

Reid fell again, and this time, no amount of dragging would get him on his feet.

'I can't.' he said, wincing in pain. 'Hurts too much!'

The other man dropped Hotch onto the forest floor. He lay on his back in the wet leaves. The man who had been carrying him picked up Reid around the waist and carried him instead.

'Wake that one up.' he said. The man smacked Hotch around the face and Hotch opened his eyes slowly. He stared at his captor.

'What do you think you're doing? I am a Feder.....' A punch in the mouth cut his words off.

'Get up and walk.' he said to Hotch, who stood on shaky feet. Hanging on to the lower branches, he slowly walked in front of the man. He felt the icy cold of the shotgun barrel on the back of his neck.

The two men knew the forest well, and were starting to outrun the following agents, and the trail they were leaving had been easy to follow. But now that Reid was being carried, there was less blood on the foliage, and the trail was less obvious.

-0-0-0-

Emily saw them first. She raised her hand to stop the other two and pointed. Hotch was stumbling forwards with a shotgun against his neck, Reid was being carried by the second UnSub. Emily kept them in view while the other two circled round so that they were in front of them.

Emily ran forwards.

'Stop right where you are!' she said, pointing her gun at the man who was threatening Hotch.

'Get back, woman or I'll kill him.

'Put down your gun, or I'll kill you.' Emily said.

The man pushed Hotch onto his knees and held the shotgun to his head execution style. The other man dropped Reid onto the ground. The pain from his foot engulfed him, and he fainted. Hotch knelt still with his eyes closed.

A shot split the air........


	9. Rescue

**TRACK MARKS  
**Chapter 9  
Rescue

_**Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. - **__**Dr. Seuss**_

For an instant, Emily was unsure who had been shot. Hotch fell forwards face first into the wet leaves, his face and hair spattered with blood and brain matter. Then the other man's face seemed to explode, and he too fell into the wet leaves, and if he still had a face, it would have been face first. She ran forward at the second man who dropped his gun and raised his hands.

'Please don't shoot me, please don't shoot, I give up I surrender just don't shoot......'

He stopped his gibbering as Dave roughly pulled his hands behind him and cuffed him with his arms around a tree. He picked up the gun and emptied the chambers. Emily turned to Hotch who was lying still where he fell. She saw then that apart from the blood from the now dead UnSub, he was bleeding from a head wound. She used her sleeve to wipe the dead man's brains from his face. Hotch opened his eyes. He looked up at her with profound gratitude.

'I thought that shot was for me.' he whispered.

'So did I for a second there.'

Dave and Morgan were with Reid. He was still unconscious on the ground, and they couldn't wake him. He had a pulse but his breathing was shallow. Morgan checked the wound on his ankle.

'Looks like a gin trap got him.' He turned to the cuffed UnSub. 'What did you sons of bitches do to him?'

'Is my brother dead?' he asked, tears streaming down his dirty cheeks.

They ignored him, and Morgan carefully picked Reid up in his arms.

'Hey kid, you're going to be fine now.' he said to the inert young man. Emily and Dave helped Hotch to his feet, and Dave called the helicopter back. They got the group's location from their cell phones, and fifteen minutes later they were climbing aboard to safety.

'You can't leave me here!' the UnSub wailed.

'We can and we will.' Morgan said. 'Someone will come back for you.' He turned his attention to Reid, who still hadn't shown any sign of waking up. 'If we remember to ask...' he mumbled under his breath.

The helicopter lifted off from the forest floor, and headed back to the city. The man cuffed to the tree watched it go through tear filled eyes. He called to his brother, but he knew deep down he would get no reply.

-0-0-0-

Spencer groaned as he started to regain consciousness in the helicopter. Morgan had sat Reid next to him and strapped him in. His injured foot he propped up on the seat opposite, between Dave and Hotch. Emily was sitting behind with the two cops who had been on the search with them. Morgan supported his young colleague's head as he came round. The first thing he said was,

'Aaron?'

'He's just fine, Kid.' Morgan said. 'A bit battered, but fine.'

Reid managed a grin. "A bit battered" could mean anything, but as Reid opened his eyes and saw the man he loved sitting opposite him the grin evolved into a smile. Hotch didn't see it though; he had fallen asleep. He was still unwell from his ordeal in the back of the van, and still needed rehydration therapy, and he was sore on his wrists and legs. The finishing touch of a fractured skull had given him concussion and he couldn't stay awake. Dave had tried talking to him and keeping him awake but nothing had worked.

The helicopter landed on the same roof as it had earlier. The doctor got on the helicopter and Dave helped him lay Aaron on a stretcher and he was carried out and into the hospital for x-rays. Reid was strapped onto a gurney and taken in straight to theatre to have his ankle repaired. He had internal injuries that needed to be repaired. He was on the cusp of consciousness as they took him from his friends and into the sterile atmosphere of the OR.

Emily Dave and Morgan made their way down the stairs to the relatives' waiting room. Morgan called Garcia and Emily called Jordan to let then know that their colleagues had been found alive and were in hospital.

-0-0-0-

Hotch woke up in a twin ward in a bed next to Reid. Spencer was still asleep when Hotch awoke. He had a mother of a headache. He put his hand carefully to the back of his head and felt the stitches in a shaved area where he had been hit. He was on a wide bore drip of saline glucose and antibiotics. His wrists, shins and feet were bandaged and he felt sick.

'You will do.' the nurse assured him. 'That crack on the head could have killed you.'

Aaron turned his head towards Reid.

'Spencer? Is he ok?'

'He needed some running repairs, but he should heal as good as new. His foot is fine.'

Hotch sighed heavily and lay back on the pillows. He hadn't felt this comfortable for a long time, and he determined to enjoy it as much and as for as long as he could.

-0-0-0-

It was the next day that Reid finally opened his eyes. Aaron was sitting on a Kleen-E-Z chair next to his bed when he came round. His eyes flickered open and his soft hazel eyes met Aaron's dark ones. A spark seemed to flash between them

'Welcome back, Spencer.' he said with a hint of a smile. Spencer beamed back and then regretted it as the split in his lip opened up and a drop of blood appeared. Aaron reached for a tissue and gently wiped Reid's mouth.

'You came for me, after all they did to you, you still came for me.' Reid said, with a mixture of admiration and love.

'There's no way I could leave you alone in the forest, Reid. I couldn't lay here in comfort knowing that you were in trouble.'

'But it almost cost you your life. When he hit you, I didn't think you were going to get up again.'

'Well I did and you're safe now.' he took his hand. 'I don't know what I'd have done if we hadn't found you.' He smiled again.' Go to sleep. We'll talk later.'

Reid gave a tight smile and closed his eyes.' Hotch walked carefully the two steps back to his bed and lay down on top of the covers.

His head was a tangle of confused thoughts and mixed emotions. He had strong feelings for Reid, but until now it had only been deep friendship love, _philia_, nothing more. But he knew those feelings were changing. He felt at that moment that he never wanted to be out of the sight of Reid, always wanted to be near him. And yet, the feelings still weren't of the kind that Reid really wanted. He felt the need to hold Reid, keep him close and touch his hair and skin, but nothing more than that.

He turned on his side so that he could watch Reid breathing; the gentle rise and fall of his chest under the thin hospital blanket. What did he feel? Was it love? _Eros_? Was it enough, and did he dare tell Reid what his heart was telling him?

He felt a tear run down his cheek and he wiped it away quickly. This was happening too fast for him. He needed to slow down and think logically. He had never allowed his heart to rule his head, although he had been told on occasions by Haley that maybe it was time he did for once give in to his feelings. But he doubted that this was what Haley meant by her exhortation!

Usually his heart and his head were in agreement. This time they weren't.

He rolled onto his back with a sigh and pulled the blanket over him. He decided to sleep on it. Maybe his life would not be such a confused muddle in the morning.

-0-0-0-

When Reid woke again, Aaron was in bed sleeping. Reid mirrored the position Aaron had taken up a few hours before, and lay on his side and watched him breathing. There was no confusion in Reid's mind. He wanted to be close to Aaron. He wanted to touch him, stroke his hair, make him laugh. But his love for him was deep enough to forgo all that if Aaron couldn't reciprocate. But he had felt his hand in his, and heard the way he said "Spencer".

The way their eyes had met when he opened them that first time.

He watched Hotch breathe for a long time, counting his breaths, watching every tiny movement of his face. He loved the way he tilted his head, and smiled with his eyes. He gently bit his bottom lip and smiled at the thought of being close to Hotch and not having to worry about what people thought. He was in love with him, and longed for the time that Hotch would love him back.

But he didn't think it would ever happen.

He turned away – it hurt too much to watch him any more – and closed his eyes in sleep.

-0-0-0-

The next morning Aaron woke up first. He was given a light meal which tasted wonderful. He checked his heart versus head dilemma, and nothing had changed. When Reid woke up, he would tell him exactly what was happening to him, and beg for his patience.

But before that happened, Jordan and Garcia arrived, and the whole team were sitting in the little ward when Reid finally woke up in time for lunch. Aaron smiled with his eyes at him, and Reid smiled back. It was good to have all his friends here, especially Dave, whom he considered to be his best and closest friend. He wondered for a split second whether to confide in him, but decided not to. It was only fair to talk to Reid first.

Garcia had brought Cookie Dough Ice Cream, and Jordan had sneaked in a carton of wine. The team had a lot of fun trying to hide them from the nurses who came in hourly to check obs. The first time, Hotch put the ice cream under the blanket and was feeling chilly when at last the nurse left them.

There was a lot of laughter that day in the ward. It felt good that everyone was safe and intact, and although there were still injuries to heal, the prognosis was favourable. Hotch longed to be back at work again.

It was quite late when the nurse came in and threw the rowdy lot out of the ward. But she could see on the faces of her patients that the party had left them with soaring if not exhausted spirits.

When they had gone and the ward was quiet again, Hotch looked over at his companion, and their eyes inadvertently met.

'How tired are you, Spencer?'

'A bit, why?

'I need to talk to you about something.'

-0-0-0-

**END **


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